February 7, 2013 4:15pm ESTFebruary 7, 2013 3:52pm ESTClemson University's football staff have regularly used the state of South Carolina's airplane for recruiting trips. Could that have anything to do with the fact that Gov. Nikki Haley is a Clemson graduate and avid supporter?

Staff report

Published on Feb. 7, 2013

Feb. 7, 2013

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley wears her Clemson pride on her sleeve. She loves her school, and doesn’t shy from showing it.

But, has her allegiance gone too far?

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According to FITSnews.com, Haley is battling with state lawmakers over allowing the university to use the state plane for press conferences and bill signing ceremonies. But the controversy goes beyond that: Clemson coaches are regular users of the state plane, mostly for recruiting purposes.

Flight logs and passenger manifest records obtained by FITS show that head coach Dabo Swinney and coordinators Chad Morris and Brent Venables have made numerous trips on the plane. Recruiting coordinator Jeff Scott has posted pictures of Twitter from the plane as well.

In October, a photo of the plane along with this caption was tweeted: “Heading to Jacksonville (on the Governor’s plane) trying to find some more ballplayers,” Scott wrote.

The flight information checked against the date of the tweet, Oct. 27, 2011, confirmed that Scott was on the state’s plane.

More recently, Scott and Venables took a recruiting trip to San Antonio on the plane and logged it in the records of the S.C. Aeronautics Commission as “official Clemson University Business.”

Last week, according to FITS, Swinney, Mooris and Venables took the plane to Lawrenceville, Ga. on a recruiting trip. Lawrenceville is less than a two-hour drive from Clemson, S.C.

The University of South Carolina has two planes and uses one exclusively for athletics. Clemson, FITS suggests, did not begin to use the state plane so extensively until Haley, a 1994 Clemson graduate, took office.